A young woman with terminal cancer who has three months to live has warned others not to ignore five illnesses that have been found to be telltale signs of her illness.
Linda Chavez, 35, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer last year after doctors consistently misinterpreted her symptoms as less serious illnesses, such as allergies or sciatica.
Sadly, by the time the disease was discovered it had already reached stage 4, meaning it had already spread beyond the lungs.
This included her brain, bones including her spine, and tissues such as her lymph nodes and adrenal glands.
Doctors told her her cancer was terminal and she could die within the next six months.
Now, she’s using Instagram and TikTok to raise awareness about seemingly harmless symptoms that can lead to cancer.
Perhaps the most unusual symptom was persistent pain in the toes, which felt as if they were constantly “stinging”.
Little did she know that this was a sign that the cancer had spread from her lungs to the small bones in her legs.
Linda Chavez, who is based in the US, is pictured with her husband Kyle Gregory and their two children Dean and Ryder. She was diagnosed with lung cancer at just 34 years old.
Chavez experienced a persistent cough, the most common sign of lung cancer. But she also had a number of less typical symptoms.
Other red flags included feeling “incredibly tired” and nausea.
“I was definitely incredibly exhausted,” she said in a recent social media clip.
“Before I was diagnosed, I was very, very nauseous… It was caused by a brain tumor. Apparently most of it (the cancer) is in my right frontal lobe, which controls things like hunger and nausea.”
But before all these signs appeared, common symptoms of lung cancer appeared, often mistaken for a winter virus.
“I’ve been coughing for years,” she said, coughing lightly to show how mild the initial tickling was.
“Eventually it got deeper and was very painful and felt like it was stabbing in my chest. Don’t ignore a persistent cough.”
Eventually the cough affected her breathing. “I literally had to take shallow breaths because I felt pain every time I breathed in and out,” she said.
“I woke up, got out of bed, and took Tylenol (the American name for paracetamol) every time for nine months.”
In a new update earlier this month, she told her followers that she had lost vision in her right eye, but did not explain the exact cause.
She also revealed that she was diagnosed with a complication of a rare cancer called leptomeningeal dissemination.
Also called leptomeningeal metastasis, this is when cancer cells spread to the thin tissue layers that cover the brain and spinal cord.
It only occurs in between 1 in 10 and 1 in 20 cancer patients, but is known to be more common among lung cancer patients.
This condition can cause a variety of debilitating symptoms, including numbness in the limbs, headaches, seizures, drooping of the face, and vomiting.
Mrs. Chavez also revealed that doctors have updated her prognosis and told her she likely has three to six months to live.
Still, she remained upbeat and told viewers with a smile, “Because it’s me, I’m going to live.”
her family is gofundme To help with medical costs.
Approximately 50,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year in the UK, making it the third most common cancer in the UK.
Only one in 10 patients diagnosed with the disease is expected to survive for 10 years, and almost 35,000 Brits die from this cancer each year.
Mrs. Chavez was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, meaning it had already spread beyond her lungs by the time doctors discovered her disease. stock images
Almost 4 out of 5 cases of lung cancer are caused by factors such as smoking, exposure to toxins at work, and air pollution, and are thought to be preventable.
Lung cancer cases have increased by almost 130 per cent among British women and girls aged up to 24 since the 1990s, according to data from cancer charity Cancer Research UK.
Although this is an impressive increase, this is from a low base level of just 0.1 cases per 100,000 women of this age.
Women in their 80s remain the single group of women in the population most likely to be diagnosed with the disease, with approximately 340 cases reported per 100,000 women.
In contrast to young women, lung cancer levels in young men remain stable over the same period.
A new persistent cough, or a change to an established cough, and fatigue are considered some of the main symptoms of lung cancer.
Doctors are urging people who have a cough that doesn’t go away after three weeks or who have other underlying symptoms to make an appointment with their GP.
They say it’s important to keep this in mind during the colder months and not dismiss a new persistent cough as a regular winter symptom.
